President, Central Alberta, Antique & Model Club, Leslieville, Alberta, Canada TOM 1HO
Nine of us got together six years ago and started to organize our nonprofit club. After sending five copies of our by-laws to the government, we got one passed. We started out with $90.00 and haven’t looked back. We had about two acres donated to us and we also rent a piece of land from the C.N.R. Railway. With a grant from the Alberta government, we erected a 40-60 steel building with cement floor. We have a wooden building 30-40, a real nice kitchen, our own freezer and deep freeze, and a propane hamburger maker. We received a federal New Horizon grant which we use to restore our old iron.
At our show September 11-12, 1982, we had about 3000, not counting the 15-year-olds and younger. We threshed both days. We used a Case, McCormick-Deering and an old wooden Waterloo separator made before the twenties. We had a parade each day with about nineteen gas tractors, a fifty horse Case steamer, a half-size steamer, two one-third size Case steamers and one smaller, we had a horseshoe tournament in honour of Ralph Rolfsen, one of our first organizers who was killed in an accident the first year that we started and never saw a show. Our steel shed was full of exhibits; our blacksmith sharpened a plow share each day; there were many hot rods and antique cars in our parade; there were homemade quilts of all descriptions. There were two gas engine displays from Edmonton (they were really like new and ran that way!) and we had our own engines as well.